2058 - Trade Analysis - My first trade (Tony Frost deal)

[Knucklehead254]

Now that I've been in the league for a few seasons I decided to look back at the first ever trade I made in the league during the offseason of 2055. It funnily enough revolves around one player at the time.

Luis Mendoza

What? What does he have to do with any of this? Well in the offseason of 2055, after coming off a runner up Sawyer Silk campaign, which saw him finish with an astounding 8.1 WAR, Mendoza was one of the hottest commodities in recent free agency history. At the time I took over the Mounties our offense was extremely underwhelming and I wanted someone who could change that, so of course I made a pretty sizeable offer for him. I believe it was 6 years, $90 Million with two player options the last two years with a NTC. The problem was every other team in the league also wanted him, including the GM we all know and love, Chad Nason. He had not too long ago won a championship with the Nashville Bluebirds in 2050, and Mendoza felt like a missing piece to get back to the championship, but there was one snag. They already had a third basemen who they were shelling $14 million dollars that season for, Tony Frost. Frost had won the 2048 Sawyer Silk trophy, and then led the team to their championship in 2050, winning series MVP as well. But now he was on a seemingly endless downward spiral and the once dominant hitter struggled hard. Chad knew he if he were to bring in Mendoza, Frost would easily become expendable, and at the time rightfully so.

Here were Tony Frost's stats after the 2054 season:
.225 AVG/.297 OBP/.370 SLG%/.667 OPS
17 HR and 67 RBI
112 K

That for $14 million? Please, you'd be better off betting that money on a Ron Collins led team winning a championship.

So Chad began looking for suitors (according to a message he sent me during negotiations, maybe he was bluffing) to take on Tony Frost, and it eventually led him to me. It should be noted at the time the first Free Agent sim was about an hour away at this point. When he asked if I wanted Frost I gave him a quick look and, truth be told, I wasn't impressed. Yeah his ratings looked good but his last two seasons combined drew up a measly 3 WAR. But I suppose the thought of the fan interest I would receive and the fact that he was a former MVP were enticing. And with those ratings, maybe he just needs a change of scenery to turn it around. The question I needed to ask was who did he want, and he made it clear off the bat who he wanted.

Glenn Walker

Walker at the time was the #39 prospect in the league and was my top prospect. I'm going to be 100% honest, I didn't like Walker at all. He had solid stuff and decent control but his movement was a measly 2 and hadn't bumped after 4 years in our minor leagues (of course ironic coming from the guy now starting a pitcher with 3 movement). But still, he was our #1 prospect and the thought of giving that up didn't sit well with me. I mean, If I could land Mendoza, then I get that without losing my top prospect. But.. what if I didn't? So if Chad decided to make it a take it or leave it deal, Frost for Walker... I would've said No.

But he didn't, and we kept negotiating. He asked if throwing in Leo Hill could help seal the deal, a lesser pitching prospect at the time. But I was still being cagey. Time was running out, so Chad threw out another offer:

Walker for Frost.. and Jorge Gutierrez

I remember immediately liking what I saw when I checked out Jorge Gutierrez for the first time. He had insane power against righties and felt like a perfect player to put in my open DH slot. And he was only 28 with team control left? Now I was intrigued. So finally, I made my first counter offer.
"How about all three?"
I basically made this offer with no time remaining until the next sim. I can't speak on behalf of Chad but a part of me feels like if he had more time to field offers for Frost, he would've rejected this offer. But he didn't have a choice in the grand scheme of things, so we agreed to the trade:

Vancouver receives:
3B Tony Frost
1B Jorge Gutierrez
SP Leo Hill

Nashville receives:
SP Glenn Walker

After the deal was made I immediately withdrew my offer for Mendoza, while Chad prayed that Mendoza would sign for the team. Mendoza did indeed choose to join a team in the Heartland division, but It wasn't Nashville, It was Omaha. With no other choice, Nashville traded for 3B Rhys Hopkins to replace the departing Frost.

So looking back since the trade went down, how have the pieces done?

Tony Frost:

Frost came in to the Mounties team with high expectations. If I was going to be paying him $14 million instead of potentially Mendoza, he needed to turn it around. He did. After a slow start to the 2055 season which had me regretting it, Frost would go on to have his best season since his 2050 Championship winning season. He would make the All-Star team and finished with a 5.1 WAR, the highest on the Mounties team that year. He would finish 3rd in Comeback Player of the Year voting and was the winner of the team's Robbie Seargant Award. 2056 was more of the same and saw Frost make the All-Star team yet again, and helped lead me to my first BBA playoff appearance. After having a solid 2057 season last year, Frost was set to be a FA and I did consider potentially moving on from the former MVP, but we agreed on a deal that will keep him for this 2058 season.

I'm extremely happy with how Frost has turned out for the Mounties and hope we can give him one more Monty before he retires.

Jorge Gutierrez:

Similar to Frost, Gutierrez began with a slow start to the season, barely cracking .200 with not a lot of Homeruns. However by the All-Star break that year he was one of the top home run hitters in the league. Hs first season with the team he would finish with 2.3 WAR. In 2056 Gutierrez had another strong year and finished with over 100 RBI's. He also made BBA History on April 21st, 2056, by becoming the first player to drive in 11 runs in a Single BBA Game. (link to article) Whilst his RBI count went up, so did his strikeouts (125), which netted him a 1 WAR for the 2056 season. In 2057, his strikeout rate rose again and he ended up finishing with 135 K, a career high. At this point I knew he was going to want a big contract after his final year of arbitration, so in a some what controversial move, I declined his final year of arbitration and he became a free agent. Two reasons I did this:

1. DH's honestly aren't too hard to find around the league, something I didn't know when I first traded for him, plus with Raul Pena looking more and more BBA ready, I felt as though it would be a waste to have him here.
2. Being a contender means I've been constantly fighting to stay below the salary cap, and paying a DH potentially $10 million+ wouldn't have been able to work with how I've structured this team.

His hard work though certainly paid off here. He just signed a 5 year, $55 million contract with the Chicago Black Sox.

Leo Hill:

I don't have much to say about this because Hill didn't even last a month, as my dumbass forgot to put him on the 40 man roster. He was drafted in the Rule 5 draft by Omaha and now currently plays for Brooklyn.

Glenn Walker:

So after failing to get Luis Mendoza in Free Agency, at least Nashville came away with a top prospect. Welllll about that. Walker's control which was set to be decent, lumped hard and he began to fall down the Top 100 prospects list. Although he was doing decent in A and AA in Nashville's farm, his overall ratings never developed and by the end of the 2056 season he had fallen out of the Top 100 list altogether. Chad, realizing the writing was on the wall, DFA'd him after that season, where I claimed him in an attempt to put him back in the minors. Yeah I'm an idiot and that didn't work, so he went over to Phoenix, where he helped the legendary Toledo Liberty win another A Championship. After that he was claimed off waivers by Brooklyn, where he's suddenly seeing a resurgence and is the #58 ranked prospect in the league. Perhaps there is still hope of him being a late bloomer.

So looking back, it's safe to say this trade heavily backfired for Nashville, who lost out on a Tony Frost resurgence whilst getting a prospect that never panned out. I'm sure Chad doesn't mind now though, since he ultimately accomplished his goal and won the championship this past season with his incredible farm system. The Mounties? Whilst we got two cornerstones for our offense it ultimately ended with back to back Geohegan round exits, which is incredible frustrating. There's still hope we can give Tony Frost one final championship run, as the now 37 year old will get arguably his last chance as Mountie to win the title.

[RT60]

Love this one

[trmmilwwi]

Great read, love the behind the scenes info.

[Dington]

This was terrible on my behalf, but if I landed Mendoza it wouldn't have mattered. He took less money to play in Omaha and I wanna say the IFA debacle caused my owner to retract my offer to him or something, but cannot confirm that. But if this was truly FA Sim #1, then that wouldn't have been the case because IFA wouldn't be available yet. Anyway, that doesn't matter. I didn't get Mendoza, then had to trade another prospect for a 3B. To rub it in, Frost returned to his former self. Ouch.

Ya got me on this one.